Macklemore Dropped from Ed Sheeran Tour After ‘Free Palestine’ Speech
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Macklemore dropped from Ed Sheeran’s US tour after ‘Free Palestine’ speech
Image source: Kristy Sparow/Getty Images
By Gabriela Pomeroy
Published 16 minutes ago
Rapper Macklemore has been dropped from Ed Sheeran’s US tour after making pro-Palestinian comments on stage earlier this month.
The artist, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, had been the opening act for Sheeran’s Loop tour, but was criticised by Jewish groups after saying "Free Palestine" at two concerts and making political speeches.
Macklemore stood by his comments on Monday, confirming that he had been cut from the tour and writing in a statement that the real victims are the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Ed Sheeran has not yet commented, and who will replace Macklemore for the rest of the tour is unknown.
The controversy began on 4 September, when Macklemore, a long-time pro-Palestine activist, performed at Ed Sheeran’s concert at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
He told the audience:
"A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so that I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very, very dear to my heart: Free Palestine."
He then performed his song Hind’s Hall, which condemns Israel’s military action in Gaza, while video footage of the devastation in Gaza was shown on the big screen.
After that performance, the campaign group StopAntisemitism criticised the rapper, saying:
"Jewish fans bought tickets to see Ed Sheeran sing… not to be ambushed by Macklemore’s anti-Israel propaganda."
The next night, Macklemore returned to the same stage and directly addressed his "Jewish brothers and sisters" in the audience.
"Criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, is in no way a criticism of you," he said, adding that he wanted people in Gaza and the West Bank to know they had not been forgotten.
Israel rejects allegations of genocide. It says its troops conduct self-defence operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in accordance with international law.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to an unprecedented Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
During Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, more than 73,780 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
Image source: Getty Images
Image caption: Ed Sheeran and Macklemore, pictured in 2014, have been friends for 13 years, the rapper said in his statement
But the backlash against Macklemore only grew louder, and included a petition by the Israeli-American Council urging Sheeran to remove him from the tour.
"This was an Ed Sheeran concert – not a political rally, not a protest, and not an activist event," the council said, adding that the rapper used "biased messaging and disputed claims."
In his statement on Instagram, which was nearly 1,000 words long, Macklemore said that after a week of "difficult conversations" with Sheeran, that ultimately ended "in a place of fundamental disagreement", he was dropped from the lineup.
Tour promoter Messina Touring Group told Rolling Stone magazine that it had been told by venues that they would not allow Macklemore to perform, "which would result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans."
In his statement, Macklemore said he empathised with the difficult position Sheeran was in, but criticised the "silencing" of his message and accused Sheeran of "ignoring the core of the issue."
He added:
"While I understand and respect Ed’s decision, I cannot in good conscience continue on this tour."
